" She is coming around. Quick get some water." A strong voiced command to someone I could not see.
Not that I could see much. My eyes barely cracked open having crusted over with sleep and dirt. I flinched as a cool cloth touched my race. " Its alright we are here to help you." The same voice I heard earlier explained.
I moved my lips to speak no sound came out. I tried again with the same results.
" Don't worry we can get your story later. I'm Ethan leader of this merry band of fighters before you." I now had a name to go with the voice.
" She is so small how could she have survived alone?" The person with the cloth asked.
" A person can do anything if there is enough determination." A simple explanation .
I slowly recovered when others in similar situations did not. I doubted if any of the kids my age were killers yet. As I started trying I waited to be expelled for what I had done. It never happened. There was a small murmur about one of the reprogramers being kill but no details were given.
As the years passed I grew stronger, listened and learned. Training is hard but anything worth doing is worth doing right. We moved frequently staying on the fringes of this new society to keep ourselves alive. With every new place we picked up a few more resistance fighters. We became deadlier as we trained. The thing that separated us from the new regiem was we killed to survive not sport.
It has been a long ten years and the eveof my seventeenth birthday. There will not be a large celebration instead a quiet recognition of my aging. Ethan believed each new year is a milestone worth recognition. His wife Ana puts together a feast or makes the best of what we have. We give thanks and pray for a few more years. Religion is gone. Faith we have in spades. That night I gave a gift to myself.
The screams could be heard through the forest. My organs quivered with each new wave of sound horror. I said a silent prayer for the strength to complete this mission. My first one solo . I would succeed in this rescue. Give these tormented souls the guidance I had not had. As a crept closer the screams got louder. I flashed to the message I had gotten earlier, coded as always. Young doves roaming after dark good time for them to fly. Hopefully they would not be to well gaurded. The monsters tended to underestimate the determination of the young that only want freedom. I made my way to a six foot fence with barbed wire circling the top. Not a huge obstacle I came prepared for it. Jumping up and over I expected to be set upon by dogs. To my surprise nothing happened. Smelling a trap I pressed forward. I could not leave any child behind. We might be at war but we could at least try to give them the tools needed for survival. As the saying goes you never get any where standing still so I pressed on. Trap or no trap I had to try. I wish I had turned back. The reason for no guards was obvious when I hit the trees. Small bodies hung in all states of decay from ever limb that could hold one. The smell of rotting flesh asualted my nose taking me back to my own flight for freedom. My brain did not want to process what I was seeing with what I could hear, screaming, crying, pleading. Was this a trap set just for me as a reminder of my own transgression? Were these monsters with human faces experimenting on little children? I still heard cries for help even with the degustation around me there was more to be done. Putting my head down ignoring the misery I consintrated on the wails of the living. It did not take long to find the large hallowed out tree. It was covered in hanging bones some fresher than others you could see an opening just large enough to fit a small person to fit through. Taking a large risk I spoke " I mean you no harm. I am here to help you." Slight whimpering greater my entreaty. " I escaped I can help you do the same." A timid response came. " They have a tracking chip in me. If I stay with the dead then they think I am dead. We are dead." " We can remove the tracker. It will hurt but can be done. " I said. Large dark eyes peered out at me through the corpses looking to haunted to belong to one so young. I knew that look as my own. The difference between this child and I is that I became a killer. There were still sounds of suffering coming from an out building. "stay here I will be right back I have to see if there are others I can help."
